The moment you announce an acquisition—or any major change in your company—your company culture immediately changes. We'll share our insights and deliverables on how we supported employees before, during and after the announcement of an acquisition, including many of the deliverables and new tools communications we set up.

Throughout our case study, we’ll share many examples, insights and lessons learned, including:

• Ideas on how to announce any change within your organizations
• Detailed example of our communication change plan
• Insights and examples into ways we announced changed other than email
• Sneak peek at our “postcard” campaign to unite our teams
• Ideas and tactics that helped us get leader buy-in across the company
• Some of our roadblocks and how we pushed through them
• What’s next for us as we continue to move forward

It might be the first time or the tenth, but communicating mergers and acquisitions is a challenge for most no matter how many times we’ve been through it. No two situations are the same, and where you sit as a communicator matters. Are you part of the team that’s being acquired or doing the acquiring? How do you help your organization transition from due diligence to done deal and beyond? And what if the whole thing goes sideways before you cross the finish line?

Let’s jump-start your successful M&A comms plan together by learning from the past.

During this session, you’ll hear about Lauren’s experiences communicating three different acquisitions between 2018 to 2022 (in which she was in all of the above situations!) and come away with a list of major takeaways, tips, and lessons learned from each.

You will leave this workshop with a journey map and toolkit on how to best balance your M&A Comms with all other/Enterprise Comms to make your systems, brand and culture thrive. Center your plan around those doing the work: your people.

The role of “communicator” is becoming increasingly important for marketing executives. More and more, they are being called on to help explain all the complexities in healthcare, as well as the organization’s response to non-ending change, to employees, physicians, patients, and the community at large.

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 187 hospitals and approximately 2,000 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. After record healthcare transaction volumes in 2021, the pace of M&A returned to previous levels, averaging about 400 per quarter. But what goes into M&A comms?

Session Takeaways:

• The current and future landscape of Partnerships and M&A, and what factors will lead to their success for the health system, partners, and patients
• Three ways brand and culture shape the success of partnerships—from market-facing value propositions to activating employee engagement and alignment and drawing focus to the patient experience
• How the pandemic has accelerated expectations around timelines and implementation ability and how to make the good aspects of this sustainable

It’s the dirty little secret of acquisitions. Most times, the acquired company doesn’t want to change the way it does things—and pushes for internal communications and positioning that reads more like the change is a merger of equals.

As an internal communicator, how do you navigate the approach to communications—balancing the cultures of the two companies and, let’s face it, the egos and feelings of the leaders and integration teams who are involved? How do you quickly form a cohesive partnership with fellow communicators on the “other side?”

This presentation:

• Highlights approaches taken in two separate acquisitions
• Reviews outcomes and lessons learned
• Engages participants with a “what would you do” format to highlight key considerations in building communication strategy

At the end of the session, participants will have a checklist of considerations and options to consider for the next time they face this tricky situation.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are everywhere these days. As companies grow, change, and morph into new versions of themselves, communications pros must ensure that messaging is just right. Internal comms people need to ensure their messages promote business continuity, boost employee morale, reduce anxiety, and retain talent.

• How internal communications can show value during mergers and acquisitions
• How to build communication workflows
• Communication roadblocks to avoid
• Common communication strategy goals